


Sweetleaf Is a Cat Cafe?

by AlannaRose



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, based on Evercelle's Sweetleaf AU, cat shenanigans, pure fluff, slow burn (friendship)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 07:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13209369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaRose/pseuds/AlannaRose
Summary: Oikawa wasn’t sure how he had ended up unintentionally adopting a cat, but now it seemed his quaint little bakery had a new feline mascot. The cat had wormed her way into the hearts of both his staff and many of their regular customers. Oikawa wasn't fooled though, the cat was only going to cause trouble for them and end up being more trouble than she was worth.A cute little one-shot based on Evercelle's Sweetleaf AU on tumblr.http://evercelle.tumblr.com/tagged/sweetleaf%21AU





	Sweetleaf Is a Cat Cafe?

“So,” Kuroo paused to take a sip of his coffee. He was sitting in the lofted area of the wondrous Sweetleaf bakery across from its one and only, notoriously overworked manager, Oikawa Tooru. Kuroo set down the cup and couldn’t help the wicked grin stretched across his face, not even bothering to hide it. “Sweetleaf is a cat cafe now?” It was no secret that Oikawa wasn’t a cat person, preferring smaller animals such as guinea pigs or hedgehogs, so the fact that Oikawa had called him claiming he needed his “expertise on cats” was pure gold. “If I had known, I would’ve brought Kenma,” Kuroo continued to tease.

The particular cat that Oikawa needed help with lay sleeping comfortably on the table between them. Kuroo noted how she was laying down with her belly exposed; she obviously felt safe in the bakery and her fur seemed way too well groomed for her to be a stray.

Oikawa banged his head on the table, disturbing the cat. She lifted her head and gave him an unimpressed look. “No. It’s not, that’s why you’re here,” Oikawa whined, mumbling into the table. Kuroo reached out and carefully pet the cat. Her coat was soft and fluffy with the definite colorings of a ragdoll. She began to purr and pushed her head further into Kuroo’s hand.

Kuroo quirked his brow and asked, “She seems really sociable, not normal for a feral cat. If she's not meant to be here, then why is she?”

Oikawa shifted so that his chin rested on the table. Glaring at the cat, he explained, “We don’t know. Everytime we throw her outside she finds her way back in. We’ve double checked all the doors; she found some kind of hole or something.”

At the sound of Oikawa’s frustrated voice, the cat stood up and padded over to him, settling back down right in front of Oikawa’s face. Oikawa sat up straight, crossing his arms and glaring at her. The cat’s eyes followed him and they spent a few moments just staring at each other. She blinked her pretty blue eyes at him and Oikawa pouted before looking away and begrudgingly beginning to pet her.

Kuroo laughed at the exchange, “It seems like she’s got you on a tight leash.” Oikawa shifted his glare to him, but nevertheless allowed the cat to get up and jump down into his lap. “What do you need me for?” Kuroo finally decided to ask.

“You and Kenma are looking for a new cat right?” Oikawa questioned. He picked the cat up and held her at eye level with Kuroo. “Could you guys consider adopting Princess?”

 _Princess? Wonder who gave her that name…_ Kuroo thought to himself. Letting out a sigh, Kuroo shook his head. “Sorry Oikawa, Kenma and I already adopted a new kitten. I don’t think we can handle another one on top of the two we already have.” Oikawa frowned and let Princess back down into his lap. “I know a no kill shelter in town if you were looking for a place to drop her off,” Kuroo offered.

An emotion that Kuroo couldn’t pin flashed across Oikawa’s face. “No, it’s fine. I’ll figure something else out,” Oikawa told him. He sighed and lifted Princess off his lap and onto the table. “Thanks for coming by though. Coffee’s on the house, feel free to take something with you for Kenma too. I need to get back to work.”

As Oikawa walked away, Princess jumped down from the table and followed after him. Kuroo watched them disappear down the stairs. Bringing the cup back up to his lips he thought to himself, _I give him a week before Sweetleaf has a new official mascot._

* * *

The first time that Oikawa found Princess in the bakery, he had thought of it as an inconvenience. Princess had been laying down next to Kunimi who was working as usual and sitting on the couch in the lofted area.

Oikawa had been bringing Kunimi his regular order when he saw the cat sleeping square in the middle of the couch, religating Kunimi to the left side. “Kunimi,” Oikawa said to get the other’s attention. Once he had it, he continued, “Why is there a cat sitting on my couch?”

Kunimi only shrugged. “She was here when I got here. It would have been rude to move her.”

Oikawa set down the muffin and drink he was holding and walked over to the cat. She didn’t seem bothered by the noise around her and continued to nap the day away. Oikawa didn’t hesitate to pick her up despite the meow of protest, and marched her right out to the back door.

He set her down outside the back door. She turned around and sat down, staring at him. “Go on, shoo. Go find your other cat friends,” he told her. But she didn’t move, just continued to stare. Oikawa let out a huff and shut the door, thinking that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t an hour later the cat was laying with Kunimi again, this time on his lap. Kindaichi was the one to find him with the cat the second time.

“Kunimi, where did the cat come from?” Kindaichi asked confused. Having only shown up for his shift about 10 minutes earlier, he hadn’t heard Oikawa complain about the cat hair on his uniform yet. Kunimi simply shrugged his shoulders and continued to work.

“Did you… let it in?” Kindaichi asked tentatively.

Kunimi shook his head and continued to pet the cat, “Oikawa took her outside earlier, and I haven’t moved since.”

“Kin-” It happened to be a coincidence that Oikawa would walk up the stairs in that moment. He gone upstairs intending to ask if Kindaichi could cover one of Kyoutani’s shifts later that week but stopped in his tracks when he saw the cat sitting calmly in Kunimi’s lap, “How did she get back in?”

Both Kunimi and Kindaichi shrugged. Grumbling, Oikawa strode over and grabbed the cat. Again she didn’t do more than meow as he picked her up. Despite the fact that Oikawa was holding her incorrectly under the shoulders, she began to purr this time as Oikawa took her downstairs.

Before he could enter the back room, Oikawa heard a confused voice call from behind him, “Princess?” He stopped and quickly spun around, hoping to find the owner of the cat but instead found Kyoutani standing there.

“Is this one of yours?” Oikawa asked, he knew about the animals that Kyoutani fed in the alley behind the bakery.

Kyoutani nodded, frowning. “Yeah she’s one of the strays that comes around out back… Would you stop holding her like that.” Kyoutani moved forward and took Princess from Oikawa’s arms.

“She’s snuck in twice now,” Oikawa complained crossing his arms, “Take her back outside and make sure she doesn’t get back in. We can’t just have a cat wandering around.” Without waiting for confirmation, Oikawa turned around and headed back into his office.

Kyoutani let Princess down outside, but not before grabbing a boiled egg for her. “Stay out here ok, Princess?” He gently scratched under her chin and Princess pushed her head down into his hand. “We don’t want Oikawa calling animal control or something.”

Kyoutani watched her as he closed the door to make sure she didn’t sneak in between his legs. She sat and stared at him, not moving a muscle. Kyoutani did a quick check of all the doors Princess could have gotten through, but didn’t find any of them unlocked. The only other way she could have gotten in was through the front.

For the rest of his shift, Kyoutani kept an eye on the front door, making sure that Princess didn’t slip in between the rush of coming and going customers.

He was kneading some bread when Hanamaki came up to him, grin plastered on his face. “You have to come see this,” he said simply. Confused but interested, Kyoutani followed the pastry chef out of the kitchen and into the office.

What he saw surprised him.

The entirety of the staff was surrounding the ‘Burnout’ couch, named so because it’s where Iwaizumi would force Oikawa to take naps during slower hours. Some of them were taking pictures, others just laughing. Oikawa was out cold, sleeping soundly. That wasn’t unusual. No, what unusual was the white fluffy ball covering his face. Princess was napping on Oikawa’s head and, just like the manager, was undisturbed by the noise of the rest of the staff was making.

“How can he even breath like that?” Watari wondered out loud.

Iwaizumi shrugged his shoulders, “He sleeps with his face in his pillow so I’m not that surprised.”

Hanamaki shuddered. “The boss is inhuman.”

“Should we wake him up?” Kindaichi asked hesitantly.

Iwaizumi shook his head, sighing, “I finally got him to lay down. Leave him for another hour; he needs the rest.” With that, Iwaizumi turned around and returned to the kitchen. Everyone else followed suit, getting back to what they had been doing before. Hanamaki and Matsukawa were the last to leave after snapping a few more pictures from different angles.

An hour of relative peace passed. Iwaizumi and Hanamaki were cleaning up for the end of their shift. Kyoutani took the unused scraps of food out back. Kindaichi had been roped into helping Watari and Matsukawa clean up the Front of the House. The quiet hum of the music Matsukawa had put on over the speakers was interrupted by the muffled screech of their manager, who had still been fast asleep up until then.

Hanamaki rushed out of the kitchen just in time to see Oikawa stomping out of the office, red faced, cat in his arms. “How did she get back in?” Oikawa demanded. No one responded so Oikawa took that as his cue to continue. “Why didn’t you take her back outside?”

“You two looked so cute napping together, we couldn’t just wake you up,” Hanamaki teased wiggling his eyebrows. Both he and Matsukawa were barely containing their laughter.

“Yeah, Boss, you and Princess make such a cute couple,” Matsukawa said. He pulled out his phone to show Oikawa the pictures he had taken. “Look how serene you two look sleeping together.”

“I could have died!” Oikawa whisper-screeched overdramatically. Princess looked just as frustrated as Oikawa, but more due to the fact that her personal couch had screamed at and moved her.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and took Princess from Oikawa. “Don’t be a drama queen. You needed the sleep, and it’s not like we seem to be able to keep her out anyway.” Princess began to purr as Iwaizumi held her.

“She’s going to get things dirty and knock stuff over. She might even have fleas or something. She can’t keep coming in,” Oikawa reasoned.

“If we cleaned her up, then could she stay?” Everyone whipped their heads around to where Kyoutani was standing. Crossing his arms, he continued, “What? If the problem’s that she’s going to get things dirty, then we can give her a bath and brush her. She’s been in here a couple times now and hasn’t knocked anything over. She's fairly calm. It’s not likely that she going to make a mess.”

After Kyoutani’s explanation, everyone’s eyes moved to Oikawa, who had initiated a one sided staring contest with the cat. Princess seemed less concerned about Oikawa’s stare and more about the gentle pets she was receiving. Noticing the silence that had fallen over the bakery, Oikawa looked up at the staff.

From their faces he could tell that Hanamaki and Matsukawa were amused. Kyoutani had his usual grumpy expression. Watari and Kindaichi seemed to have something akin to hope in their eyes. But in the end it wasn’t that youthful hope that swayed Oikawa’s decision. No, instead it was the soft smile on Iwaizumi’s face as he pet the cat.

“Fine,” Oikawa mumbled out and, before they could celebrate, continued in a louder voice, “But! This is only temporary. She can stick around until we figure out how she’s getting back in. I don’t care who does it but she’s getting a bath and she gets brushed everyday. I don’t want cat hair anywhere. And I’m not going to be the one to clean after her,” he made eye contact with each person, “Understood?”

Matsukawa and Hanamaki mock saluted their boss and began to get back to work. Kindaichi and Watari crowded around Iwaizumi, both wanting to hold Princess, while Kyoutani stood from afar to make sure nothing happened to her.

Oikawa let out a sigh, realizing half his workers were going to be preoccupied by the newest addition to the Sweetleaf staff. At least with everyone else caring about the cat, he wouldn’t have to deal with her.

* * *

Oikawa wasn’t exactly sure how he had ended up being Princess’ unofficial caretaker, but here he was brushing her in his office before the morning rush started. Looking at her now, no one would be able to tell she had been a stray.

After one particularly amusing bath time in which Kindaichi was somehow the only one to come out with scratches, her coat had come out silky smooth. It made it easier to brush her, but didn’t mean that it didn’t have to be done twice a day. Oikawa found himself doing it regularly after everyone else seemed to ‘forget’.

After disposing on the cat hair, Oxikawa sat down at his desk ready to do some mind numbing paperwork. Before he could properly begin to work though, he heard a loud and demanding call from under his desk. Taking a peak, Oikawa saw Princess sitting at his feet, staring up at him expectantly. Oikawa furrowed his brow and told her clearly, “No.”

She simply stared back up at him and tilted her head, letting out another demanding “meow.”

They both engaged in what was now one of their usual staring contests and Oikawa had to give in when Princess softy blinked her eyes at him. “Fine.” Rolling the chair back, he gave Princess enough room to jump up and onto his lap. He tried to ignore her ever-constant purring as he settled into his work.

An hour later, the door opened and Iwaizumi walked in. “Need something Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked, not looking up from his computer.

Iwaizumi settled himself down on the couch, letting his gaze settle on Oikawa. “Yeah, when’s the last time you’ve had a day off?” Iwaizumi asked.

 _Not this again,_ Oikawa thought. With a shrug he replied, “Don’t know Iwa-chan.” Sighing he tore his eyes away from the screen. He rubbed his eyes and stretched out his back. Sinking into his chair, he gave Iwaizumi a disinterested look. “We’ve had this conversation before. I’m the manager. I need to be here. I haven’t trained anyone on how to take care of the office work.”

Iwaizumi’s expression mirrored Oikawa’s. “There’s an easy solution to that you know.” Grimacing, Oikawa spun the chair back towards the screen. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and stood back up, making his way over to Oikawa he said, “Just put out an ad and interview a few people. You don’t have to hire any of them, but it couldn’t hurt.” Oikawa jumped when he felt Iwaizumi’s hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw green eyes peering into his soul “I-” he sighed, “ _We_ all care about you and we don’t want you to burnout again.”

Pulling a fake smile over the frown that wanted to form, Oikawa shook his head. “Don’t worry about me Iwa-chan. I can take care of myself.”

A heavy sigh left Iwaizumi’s lips and his hand slipped from Oikawa’s shoulder. “Think about it,” he said over his shoulder as he walked back out the door to get back to work.

Oikawa let his eyes fall back to the screen, but he couldn’t concentrate as he had been before. Princess, seemingly taking note of his mood, stood up in his lap and jumped onto the table.

“What? Are you going to tell me what to do now too?” Oikawa asked, unimpressed. Princess stared at him and blinked her eyes. “What, nothing to say? No words to tell me you know what’s best?” She only blinked once more and Oikawa buried his head in his hands. “I’m talking to a cat, maybe I do need a break,” he mumbled into his hands.

Princess let out a high pitched rumbling meow. Oikawa peaked through his hands to see Princess pad forward and boop his head with her nose. She let out another rumble.

Oikawa couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah alright, no more feeling down.” Taking a deep breath, he sat back up. “Let’s get to work.” Princess jumped back down into his nap and resumed her nap. “Maybe another hand to help around here wouldn’t hurt,” Oikawa said to himself, absentmindedly petting Princess.

* * *

A few days passed after Oikawa’s meeting with Kuroo, and Oikawa still hadn’t come up with a plan for Princess. In the few short weeks she had been there, she had wormed her way into everyone’s hearts, and Oikawa knew that if he sent her to a shelter, even if it was a no kill one, entire staff would mutiny.

Oikawa had sent everyone home early; it had been a slow day due to the rainstorm outside, so he was the only one cleaning up after locking their doors promptly at 5. He absentmindedly swept the floor, still trying to come up with a solution to his cat problem that wouldn’t cause a riot within his staff. His own playlist played in the background and Oikawa began to whisper-sing along to the words.

Princess was lying down on one of the tables napping as she frequently did, but raised her head to look at Oikawa when she heard his voice. The song changed and Oikawa grinned at her. Setting the broom against the wall Oikawa strode over to Princess and lifted her into his arms. Loudly, he began to sing, “Maybe we're just trying too hard, when really it’s closer than it is too far,” holding her out and above his head he continued, “Cause I’m in too deep, and I’m trying to keep up above in my head, instead of going under.” A loud banging startled Oikawa and he wiped his head around to where it had come from, clutching Princess close to him, heart hammering in his chest.

His heart calmed down when he realized it was only Iwaizumi, but his face flushed red realizing Iwaizumi had more likely than not seen him dancing around serenading Princess. Another loud bang and a “Shittykawa open the door” had Oikawa quickly setting Princess back down on her table and grabbing the keys to open the door for Iwaizumi.

“Matsukawa and Hanamaki were right,” Iwaizumi teased coming in, “You and Princess do make a good duo.”

Oikawa blushed and lightly hit Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “What are you doing back here? I told you to go home,” he asked, trying to change the topic.

“You sent everyone else home too, and I’m not about to let you stay here for another 3 hours cleaning,” Iwaizumi responded. He shrugged off his raincoat and draped it over one of the chairs next to Princess’ table. He gave her a quick scratch on the head. “So what do we still need to get done?”

Oikawa looked around. He didn’t have a lot more to get done. With the little amount of business they had cleaning hadn’t really taken all too long, but Iwaizumi had gone out of his way anyway to come help and Oikawa wasn’t about to say no to spending time with him. Even if it was only for work. He wracked his brain for something that he could have Iwaizumi do. “Actually, I wanted to move that old filing cabinet in my office and put a new one in it’s old place. The new one’s supposed to be coming in tomorrow, but we could move everything now real quick.” That was a start.

“Sure, lead the way,” Iwaizumi gestured towards the office doors.

Oikawa walked into his office, followed by both Iwaizumi and Princess. Dusting off the top of the filing cabinet Oikawa said, “This is the one. The new one’s going to be bigger, but I’d still like to keep this one around. You need to move it about 2 feet.”

“I need to move it?” Iwaizumi raised a brow.

Oikawa smiled teasingly, “Yeah, Iwa-chan is so strong and helpful that he can move it all by himself.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “Nice try. Come on, let’s get this done Noodle Arms.”

Oikawa gasped, “Mean, Iwa-chan,” but nevertheless still moved to push the filing cabinet. Iwaizumi stood on the other side, intending to pull.

“On three,” Iwaizumi commanded and began counting, “One, two, three.” They both gave it their all and move the cabinet about 5 inches before they took a break.

“What the hell do you keep in this thing?” Iwaizumi asked, but Oikawa didn’t answer. Instead he was staring at what the cabinet had revealed. A small window, the perfect size for a cat to jump up one and wiggle behind the space between the window and the wall. Oikawa’s head shot around to where Princess had settled down on the couch. She stared right back at him, blinking once. Slowly Oikawa looked back at the window and then up to Iwaizumi who was waving his hand in front of Oikawa’s face.

“What?” Oikawa asked in somewhat of a daze.

“I asked what you have in here.” Iwaizumi furrowed his brow. “Is everything ok?” Iwaizumi reached forward to try and feel Oikawa’s forehead.

“Huh?” Oikawa snapped out of his daze and pulled his head back. “Yeah perfectly fine, just realized that I’d rather leave the cabinet where it is, we should move the bookshelf instead.” He pointed to the mostly empty shelf, “Let’s move this back.”

“Alright then,” Iwaizumi shrugged his shoulders and they both pushed the cabinet back.

As he backed away from the cabinet Oikawa felt something between his legs, looking down he saw the Princess was weaving her way through them. She let out a soft, “Meow.”

Iwaizumi checked his watch, “Did you feed her yet?”

“Is it 6?” Iwaizumi nodded. “Then no, I haven’t yet,” Oikawa responded.

“I know that you’re not to fond of her, but you can’t starve her to death,” Iwaizumi commented. “I’ll feed her, you get started on getting those books off the shelf so we can do it.” He made his way to the office door.

Oikawa gave Iwaizumi a mock salute and a, “Yes sir!” Princess followed Iwaizumi out the door, but not before pausing and turning back to give him another soft meow. Once both of them were out the door, Oikawa double checked that the opening was hidden. Satisfied that no one would find it, Oikawa got to work moving the books.

* * *

“Iwa-channnnnnnnnnnnnnn,” Oikawa whined. His body was draped over a table and he looked exhausted, “None of them are any good; I can’t hire them. This is a fruitless effort.”

Iwaizumi smacked the back of his head. “Stop whining, that 2nd girl didn’t seem so bad.”

Oikawa pouted, “But it is. Itohru-chan was nice, but I don’t think she has the work ethic we need here,” Oikawa paused to let out another whine, “Why did I think that hiring an assistant manager would be a good idea?”

“I’m gonna have to agree with the Boss this time,” Matsukawa commented from one of the tables he was cleaning up. “Princess didn’t seem to like any of them either, especially that girl.”

Coincidently, Princess came bounding down the steps in that moment. She jumped up onto the table Oikawa was laying down at and nudged his arm. Oikawa lifted it and began to pet her. “I guess you’re right,” Iwaizumi begrudgingly admitted.

Oikawa lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at Iwaizumi and Matsukawa, “Seriously? Should we just let Princess chose the assistant manager then?”

They both shrugged and Matsukawa answered, “Well, cats are a good judge of character.”

Dropping his head back down on the table with a thud, Oikawa grumbled to himself about how no one respected him or is opinion. Oikawa raised his head slightly and was meet with blue eyes. “You care about my thoughts, right?” he pleaded. Princess tilted her head and jumped off the table.

Matsukawa burst out laughing. “Stone cold.”

“Rejected by a feline…” Oikawa mumbled pathetically.

“Sit up, Oikawa, you’ve got one more interview to get through,” Iwaizumi told him.

“There’s no point. Can we just call them and tell them not to come in?” Oikawa asked.

Iwaizumi shook his head. “They’ll be here in 15, make yourself presentable.” With that, he disappeared back into the kitchen.

“This is the last one right?” Matsukawa asked.

Oikawa nodded. ”If they don’t pan out then I’ll just take it as a sign that I’m never supposed to take a break.”

“You never know. They could be perfect for the job,” Matsukawa commented before following after Iwaizumi.

Oikawa sat up straight and reorganized the files on the table. He pulled out the final application just as the entrance bell rang behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, Oikawa saw a white ball of fluff dash past him and towards the door.

Turning around, Oikawa saw a young man with carmel colored hair. Princess was weaving her way around him legs meowing and demanding to be picked up. The man chuckled and lifted her. “Hey there sweetheart, what’s your name?” Princess looked at complete ease in his arms and purred as she nuzzled her face into his hand.

After a moment, she looked directly at Oikawa and blinked her pretty blue eyes. Oikawa glanced back down at the application on the table. _Yahaba Shigeru, huh?_


End file.
